Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/276

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. SEPT. is, im

ibe foun4 ft great deal about the Lavingtons ; but this hint must here suffice.

The third volume of the Hursley registers begins with three pages devoted to Richard Major's family, and among the marriages is jbhis :^

''The wright worshipfull Richard Cromwell, Esq uire, and M rs Dorothy Maijor, the daughter of the right worshipful Richard Major, Esqui r, were mar- ried the first day of May, Anno JDom. one thousand six hundred and forty-nine."

The marriage of Anne Major to John Dunch of North Baddesley occurred on 2 July, 1650. According to Richard Morley (the rustic poet of Hursley, who died in 1672), quoted in Marsh's ' Hursley,' " these all lived at the Lodge together in Oliver's reign. So we had justice, right or wrong by power ; for if we did offend, they had power to send us a thousand miles off."

The baptisms of the children of Dorothy Cromwell and of Anne Dunch all follow .each other, beginning with Elizabeth Crom- well on 26 March, 1650. Mr. Major Dunch, - <J sonne of Mr. John Dunch," was born <9 Aug., 1651, being Saturday. Samuel, -" sonne " of the same, was born 26 Sept., 1652, being Sunday. Dulcibella, daughter ,of Mr. John Dunch, was born 29 March, 1654. Anne, June, 1655. Edmund, 3 Sept., 1656, being Wednesday. John, 5 Oct., 1659. As these Dunch children are not ,given in th,e pedigree, they are here inserted.

Miss C T M. Yonge in her ' Keble's Parishes ' ,gives full copies of the Cromwell baptisms, namely, Elizabeth, 1650; Oliver, 11 July, '1656 ; Anne, 15 July, 1659 ; Dorothy, 1 Aug., 1660. But possibly the full text ,of the following may be interesting to readers .of ' N. & Q.' :

" Oliver Cromwell, Es^ 8, sonne of Richard Crom- jrell, Esi re , Lord of the Manor of Marden, alias Merdon, died the eleventh day of May, and was buried the thirteenth in the chancel of Hursley, Anno Dom. 1705."

" Richard Cromwell, Es9 re, was buried ye eigh- ,jteenth day of July, A.D. 1712."

This was, of course, the Protector Richard,

F. H. S.

Highwopd, Romsey.

' KING LEAR, ' ON THE STAGE. This tragedy, just revived at the Haymarket Theatre, is seldom to be seen in England. I saw it in Germany many years ago, and was then struck with the fact that it displays Shakespeare's theatrical powers to an extent unsurpassed in any of his other dramas, ' Hamlet ' not excepted. The long practical experience of a skilled actor was required for the composition of * King Lear.' The

following matters I noticed in the repre- sentation would, I think, escape the notice of nearly all readers of the printed play.

1. Cordelia and the Fool never appear together ; the reason was, doubtless, that the same boy-actor played both.

2. The actors in the storm scene are all dressed very differently ; this stage effect is most remarkable.

3. In the last scene almost all the principal personages are killed ; but only the greatest, Lear himself, dies on the stage. We hear that Gloster and Edmund are dead ; the bodies of Goneril and Regan, and afterwards of Cordelia, are carried in ; last of all, the king dies in view of the spectators.

H. DAVEY. Brighton.

WESTMINSTER WILLS : WILLIAM AND JOHN JENNINGS. Having occasion to con- sult some wills at Somerset House for genealogical purposes, I made some notes from the will of a parishioner of St. Mar- garet's, Westminster, which may be of sufficient interest to warrant a corner in
 * N. & Q.'

The will was that of William Jennyngs, " Servant unto the King and Queenes Maiesties," dated 2 Aug., 1558, and proved in December of the same year (11 Welles). What particular office he held is not known. To his nephew John he leaves the lease of " The Boar's Head," some property in " Tuthill Strete," and his furniture in the chamber over the gate. The utensils at " The Boar's Head " are mentioned, and apportioned among several legatees. To his wife Sybill he leaves some corn, hay, and barns in Lambeth.

" Item, the 40J. which I lent unto the Quenes maiestie upon a Prevyt Seale : I will viij u thereof be imployed towards the making of a well in Tuthill streete betwyxt my ten* 9 called the White harte and the tenement called the Sarzons hed .... Also I will myn executors giue betwixt Margaret my cooke and John my hostler called Joane my maide [sic] iij !i either in stuff or money . . . .Also the Queenes maiestie and King Edward are indebted vnto me in 120^., which, if it be gotten, to be distributed amongst my kinsfolk and in works of charity."

The testator complains also that he has been unrecompensed for a lease of 40 shil- lings by the year " which the King's maiestie her father took from me, and put into the park at Saint James." His chambers over the gate would refer to the gate that led out of College Court, now Great Dean's Yard, into Tothill Street, the last prison of Sir Walter Raleigh, and the place where Lovelace wrote his immortal poem * To